Press release: Letterbox arms companies in the Netherlands

23 December 2015

Press release

Many arms companies use the Netherlands for tax evasion constructions, writes Stop Wapenhandel in a research report published today. Seven out of the ten biggest global arms companies have tax constructions in the Netherlands.

More than half of the top 100 biggest arms companies have a holding or establishment in the Netherlands. Which means that of every two dollars earned with weapon production, one is having the Netherlands backing up its financial structures.

Stop Wapenhandel checked the top-100 of global arms companies against Chamber of Commerce information and found large number of arms producing companies with shell companies established in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is notorious for its tax evasion possibilities.

Tax evasion by arms companies is double cynical. All companies use infrastructure paid for by taxes, but defence companies also have their products paid for by taxes, as the lion share of their production is bought by governments. Moreover, much of their research and development is subsidized by governments or done in cooperation with publicly funded universities and/or research institutes. Arms companies profit in all possible ways from public money but contribute as little as possible.

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